Putting Public Duty Before Private Interests as Governor of Jiao Province

"General Ziyu, please wait a moment." Wu Yi called after Lan Tian.

Lan Tian and Liu Bei both froze. Wu Yi wore a smile, as if he had good news. Liu Bei thought, If you have nothing to say, don't go playing with fire. You should know how hard I've worked to bring about this hard-won harmony.

"Do you need something, General Ziyuan?" Lan Tian asked curiously.

Wu Yi cupped his fists with a conciliatory smile. "I heard Jiao Province is still short of people to handle its affairs?"

Lan Tian gave a slight nod. Jiao Province lay in the remote south, and ordinary people avoided it whenever they could. The shortage of staff was real. With no other choice, Lan Tian still had many counties and townships staffed by officials selected during the tenures of Lai Gong and Wu Ju. He estimated it might take twenty or thirty years for talent selected through the academies to fully replace the officials in Jiao Province.

As the new system for selecting officials in Jiao Province continued, Lan Tian knew that scions of noble families like Pang Hong, Pang Tong's son, would also join in large numbers. But Lan Tian had no intention of excluding the noble families. This was a window he had opened for the common people, and a door for the many lesser noble clans and poor families. It was easier to enter government through study and achievement than through wealth and family power.

The noble-family system at the end of the Han was a classic arrangement in which great houses feasted while lesser clans queued up for scraps. Take the Xun Clan of Yingchuan, which had invested in Cao Wei: in Henan, the Xun Clan's interests came first. Any smaller clan that wanted its members to enter government